Putter Balancing

All putters have a shaft axis. That axis depends upon the bend of the shaft and the location of where the shaft and/or hosel mounts to the head. How the weight distribution pattern of the putter head relates to that axis determines its balance. Putter designers incorporate different approaches to balancing because golfers use different styles of putting strokes. Each style of stroke has a balance that is best suited to it.

Face- Balanced

If you place a putter's shaft balanced on your fingertip and the face of the putter head runs parallel to the horizon - face to the sky - then it is called "face-balanced". Big mallets such as the Carbite or the Fat Lady Swings are generally face-balanced. Most center-shafted putters, or heel-shafted putters with shafts bent to create a center axis, are face-balanced.

The Alien Tutch mallet shown to the right is a face-balanced putter. It has a symmetrical weight distribution pattern to its head with the exception of a small notch of weight that has been removed from the toe for balancing purposes. While its hosel is actually heel-mounted, the orientation of its shaft axis points to dead center. When balanced upon a finger, this weight pattern allows the head to suspend face up on its shaft axis.   

Toe-Weighted Balance

If, when you balance the putter on your finger, the toe hangs straight down, the heel pointing to the sky and the face is running perpendicular to the ground, then the balance is "toe-weighted" in relation to its shaft orientation. Throughout the putting stroke, the relative weight of the toe becomes a factor. Narrower putters such as old-style blades are generally heel-shafted and have toes that point down when balanced. Some putters with a more centrally oriented shaft axis become toe-weighted by the design of asymmetrical cavity patterns that place additional weight in the toe. Some refer to toe-weighted balance as "toe down". We use the terms, "toe up and "toe down" to describe the orientation of a putter's toe at address position, not in balancing position.

Forty-Five Degree Hangers

The third basic category includes those that fall somewhere in between. When held balanced on a fingertip, a putter which hangs suspended in an open position that is at a 45 degree angle (or in that general vicinity)  is called a "forty-five degree hanger". Many various putters fall into the range between 20 and 80 degrees. All have weight that is distributed more or less evenly between the heel and the toe and generally have hosels located about a quarter of the way in from the heel.

The Titleist Scotty Cameron Del Mar III shown to the left is a typical forty-five degree hanger. With a change in hosel design and shaft bend, this design could be converted to a face-balanced putter.

Heel-Weighted and Face-Weighted Putters

A few putters have toes that point to the sky. These are rare, however. Some achieve this balancing through weighting while others do it through shaft orientation. Note the unusual Positive Putter shown to the right. It features a 100% symmetrical head design with a shaft mounted dead center. Its toe points to the sky because the axis of the shaft orients to the toe side of the head, thus allowing more weight to be on the heel side of the axis. The actual weight distribution in the head is neutral. This type of "toe-balance" keeps the head square through impact for certain putting strokes. Another such putter featured in these pages is the Drop Putter.

A limited number of putters, such as the String Putter, have a balance that allows the face run parallel to the horizon, but facing down, not upwards to the sky. This occurs when the shaft axis is well back from the front of the face. Thus the extra weight evenly distributed across the face makes it point down. In apposition to the standard, "face-balanced" putters, these are "face weighted."

One last category is the true, center-weighted, center-shafted putters such as The Railgun. Their balance is almost completely centered around the shaft axis - front to back, heel to toe. Very rare, these putters will balance in just about any position that they are put in.

Heel-Toe Weighted

"Heel-Toe Weighted" does not, in and of itself, imply any even distribution of weight or balance. A "heel-toe weighted" putter can have any type of balance. Weight utilization is relevant to putter head design in four ways. 1.) To establish a desired swingweight, 2.) To provide stability to off-center hits, 3.) to create forgiveness and sweet spot characteristics and 4.) To establish balance. The term, "heel-toe weighted" is frequently misused by marketing people. It is often used as a balancing term - as a substitute for the term, "45-degree hanger," or for other, less definitive terms. Other times it is used to describe expanded weight distribution that has been used for purposes of creating greater forgiveness or stability. This is misleading in that almost all modern putters have some degree of extra heel and toe weighting. Some manufacturers, such as Carbite and Never Compromise, use a lightweight metal in the center section and add substantially heavier metals in the heel and the toe sections. Some place heavy metal inserts into the heel and toe. Others use a large cavity in the middle to place the weight at the extremes. These design elements are generally used , to create a higher moment of inertia (add forgiveness to mishits) - not for balancing purposes. 

The STX putter shown to the right is a forty-five degree hanger. It uses an asymmetrical, heel-toe weighting pattern to provide forgiveness and to establish a desired balance. If the hosel and shaft were oriented more to the heel, or if extra mass was added to the toe, the weight of the toe would pull it down to 90 degrees when balanced upon a finger. 

Why does all of this matter?

If you have a putting stroke that moves on a gentle arc around your body - inside to outside to inside again, ala Ben Crenshaw or Phil Mickelson - then you will probably be better off with a toe-weighted putter. The dynamics of the weight pattern as it relates to the movement of the head's mass through the stroke allows for optimum angle at impact. A toe weighted putter is one that opens slightly on the takeaway and closes its angle as it moves back through the ball. Such putters do not respond as well when used with a pure, straight down the line, pendulum stroke. Off-center hits will cause excessive face movement.

Pure pendulum strokes need a balanced weight distribution to maintain stability and to keep the face square through impact. Face-balanced putters work better with a stroke that moves squarely down the line - straight back and straight through. They are noticeably less effective when used with an arched putting stroke.

Most players have putting strokes that are neither dead straight or uniformly arched on an inside to out to inside again path. They have a slight arc or bend to their strokes. Some push out. Others pull across. These golfers do not benefit from a putter face that stays perfectly square, or one that closes noticeably through impact. That is why most modern putters have a balance somewhere between 20 and 80 degrees. The more the degrees, the more the face opens and closes. If a player's stroke is inconsistent, or if it cuts across the line a bit, he will probably be better suited to a "forty-five degree hanger."